Look At The Bright Side

(  Contributor  ;   hcp   )

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Year was , may be , 1960 / 61

Bjorn Petersen ( BjP ) was my boss in Switchgear Factory ( PSW )

Chief Engineer of Gujarat Electricity Board ( GEB ) was to visit PSW to take a look at our 100 A Switch-Fuse unit

If he was satisfied , a large first order was expected

Knowing this, BjP , myself and design engineer I C Joseph were struggling in the machine shop to machine the switch box and the switch cover castings 

That was before we had made the necessary drill-jigs for both

It was " mark , mill , drill " sequence

Around 8 pm , castings were ready for assembly

I applied some glue and placed the grommet in the cover groove

Then inserted the hinge screws and tried to press down , to close the cover shut

Then it happened  !

Cover casting cracked at the hinges ! We had drilled the holes with very little wall left

I stared in disbelief . The blood drained out of my face , expecting a verbal lashing from BjP

Then I heard him speak :

"  Parekh ,

   I am glad this cover cracked NOW

   Just imagine our embarrassment - and customer's disappointment - had it 

   cracked tomorrow morning , during demo 

   Let us machine a new casting and carefully , this time "

Since the store was locked , I climbed over the 10 ' high grill , got inside and brought out another casting

By the time we finished machining / painting and assembling it , it was past midnight

But the demo next day was a great success and we got that order

Early this week , I was having lunch with G Ramakrishna ( GR ) and inquired if he knew the whereabouts of BjP

GR told me that he is still in Mumbai and generally keeping well except that he has lost hearing

GR also told me that , some years back , BjP handed over his Saki Naka factory ( DANCAL ) , to his employees

When Personnel Department introduced some new designations for engineers in 1961 , Petersen realized that it was in contradiction to my appointment letter

Along with the letter of Personnel Department , he attached his personal handwritten note , saying , I may continue to introduce myself within L&T and outside as " Planning Engineer " and that , he is willing to certify that at any time , I desired

In the 60s , L&T was a great place to work for